So on my way back to the office from running some errands and grabbing lunch, this guy blows a stop sign. I was far enough away that I could stop easily, but he definitely blew the thing. I saw that his car had Arizona license plates on it, though, so I was willing to cut him some slack since he was an out-of-stater. And I noticed, also, that he was driving a Porsche Cayenne, their new SUV thing. And as I continued down the road to my office, it occurred to me that nothing says, "I spent too much on my car" quite like buying a Porsche SUV. And then I wondered how accurate that thought was. So, I got back to the office, started eating my salad...and decided to do a little research.



And you know what? I was right. You'd have be either completely stupid or totally blinded by the Porsche brand name to buy one of these things. Because here's what I found. The base model of the thing costs $42,200. For that, you get a 3.2L V6 engine which is smaller than the one in my humble Buick, a manual transmission, smaller wheels than on my Outback, the Porsche logo...and not much else. Forty-two grand! For hardly anything! Oh, and if you want one in any color other than black or dark blue, it'll cost you $500 more. Why, I have no idea...



Anyway, on a lark, I decided to price one that I went and added options to to make it more or less comparable to my Outback. Things like heated seats, a 6-CD Changer Bose sound system, a V6 turbo engine, a 5-speed transmission that you can run completely automatically or semi-manually (i.e. you can shift gears manually without having to deal with a clutch), big fat 19" aluminum wheels for off-roading, 4-wheel ABS (The standard Porsche has ABS only on the front brakes, even though it is, like the Outback, an all-wheel-drive vehicle), automatic dual-zone climate control, and a couple of other things.



The result? A Porsche Cayenne with about the same options on it that my humble Subaru has would cost almost $60,000. SIXTY GRAND!



The original sticker price on my Outback when it was purchased last year? About $29,500. The only major difference between the two vehicles is that the Porsche is a weensy bit bigger because it is a true mini-SUV and the Outback is still classified as a station wagon because it only seats five, not seven. This is actually a bonus, though, because the moment your vehicle is classified as an SUV, your insurance goes up by a couple of hundred dollars. The Outback is still classified as a car. HAH! Plus, the Outback has more cargo room overall than most mini-SUVs. So...why pay an extra $30,000 for the Porsche SUV? That's the question I'm asking myself.



So now, when I see the two or three people in town who own one of these things driving around, I'm going to point and laugh at them. :)



[info]ravenclaw_devi, do they even sell these things in Germany? For some reason, I can't imagine SUVs being a hot item in Germany since, as a country, y'all are so very green. :) Whereas we here in America are so very un-green. :)